


down to the sound of a heartbeat

by VagabondDawn



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen, Log Horizon
Genre: Akatsuki is a role-player, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Sequence, Flavour text becomes real, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 05:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19457161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondDawn/pseuds/VagabondDawn
Summary: The Adventurers of Akihabara know this: flavour text becomes real.





	down to the sound of a heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wafflelate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/gifts).



> Request by wafflelate  
> Fandom: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen/Log Horizon 
> 
> Drabble Series/Sequence 
> 
> Prompts: Akatsuki turns out to be an Uchiha

No one ever asks Akatsuki how she picked her character name. 

It’s fair enough; most of the Adventurers just answer to their character names without thinking, as if stepping into the body of their character is the same as inhabiting their whole lives. She doesn’t know what Shiroe’s real name is, or Nyanta’s, or why they picked those names. 

In another way, it’s disappointing. 

_It means daybreak_ , she could justify. _A ninja works best under the cover of darkness and dawn means their work is done._

The real reason, one she’s too embarrassed to tell: _I used to watch Naruto._

* * *

“The Second World Fraction,” Shiroe explains, “was the appearance of Adventurers in Theldesia. The timing coincides with the release of the Elder Tales Beta… so it seems we have always been connected.” 

It’s weighty news. 

But Akatsuki can only think of it in a different way. 

“The People of the Land have always known we didn’t belong,” she says. 

It shouldn’t hurt. 

All she can think of is the intricate backstory she made for Akatsuki to weave him carefully into the world — where he was born, where he trained, the tragedy that made up his life. 

All of it ruined. 

* * *

_Akatsuki of the Uchiha Clan_ , she thinks to herself, sometimes. _The only remaining survivor of the massacre. Trained in the arts of ninjutsu since birth and loyal until death._

It feels thinner and thinner every time, like string worried between her hands until it frays. What good is that backstory, here and now? 

It gives her no understanding of the raids and monsters, like Shiroe. It gives her no way to discover new skills, like Nyanta. It does not let her connect with other players, like Marielle. 

It’s just words. 

Everyone always said roleplaying was the wrong way to play. 

* * *

Then… Tatara reforges the Meito-Haganemushi. 

“May this serious and righteous girl never fall to the wrong path; May both the sword and the girl support each other; to fight against evil curses and the suffering of the world." 

Akatsuki holds it in her hands and _feels_ the blessing on it — the flavour text is as real as the edge on the blade. 

_I **am** Akatsuki_, she thinks _, of the Uchiha clan._

This isn’t like ‘Shiroe the Archmage’, being remembered by Landers — this is _her_ flavour text. 

And when she faces the Royal Guardsman, her eyes flicker red. 

[Overskill: Sharingan] unlocked. 

**Author's Note:**

> When you close your eyes and go to sleep  
> And it's down to the sound of a heartbeat  
> I can hear the things that you're dreaming about  
> When you open up your heart and the truth comes out  
> -Talking in Your Sleep by The Romantics


End file.
